


the sweetness of being

by dollylux



Series: Fic Advent Calendar 2015: Siblings, Husbands, Lovely Ladies, and Other Miscreants [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:31:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5382236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollylux/pseuds/dollylux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lizzie finds comfort where she never expected to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the sweetness of being

**Author's Note:**

> day eight | prompt: snuggle
> 
> so i've just created this pairing tag. this is one of the most indulgent things i've ever written. if you know me, you'll see all the reasons why. if you don't, then just please know this story was so comforting to me that it's almost painful to re-read. 
> 
> it's just two girls snuggling, so if you're into that, please give this a read and let me know if you like it. i'm not expecting anybody to read this, but it would mean a lot to me if you did.

She hadn’t even realized she was doing it, didn’t realize what was happening until she’s suddenly standing in front of a sturdy, good-sized blanket fort.

Work had been awful. She’d been screamed at by three different customers, and the last one had made her break down into tears. Her manager had sent her home early and given her tomorrow off, and so she’d come back to the empty apartment and stood in the dark just inside the front door for nearly twenty minutes, tired, silent tears still streaming down her face.

Lizzie thought the hard part of college would be the grades. Midterms were over yesterday, and she’d survived that. Put her in front of stressed out, greedy, middle-aged women who had last minute holiday shopping lists, and she shatters. 

Sebastian and Gwyneth had both left right after class yesterday, gone straight to the airport to fly home for Christmas. Scarlett, their newest roommate, is largely a mystery to her, a blur of dark blonde hair and armfuls of books and late nights writing papers at the kitchen table, the blue light from the screen flashing a glare in Scarlett’s thick black glasses.

She’d hardly said ten things to Lizzie since she moved in, and Lizzie decided just last week to give up trying to make Scarlett like her. She’s got plenty of other things to worry about. Scarlett’s probably gone, too, just like everyone else, off home to take comfort in the familiar rituals of holidays. 

And anyway, her blanket fort is now finished, every available sheet and blanket in the house connected with safety pins and draped over lamps and chairs and the extremely helpful coat rack that nobody ever uses. She fills it with pillows and all the blankets from her bed, gathering up a select stack of books, headphones, her phone, laptop, and the chargers for both. She takes it all inside the little fort and sets up her new room. 

She plugs in the tiny lamp from the bathroom and pushes it to the corner of the fort, lighting it up with a warm, comforting glow. She climbs inside and pulls the sheets down after her, enveloping her in a quiet, close little space exactly like the ones she used to make with her mom.

Her eyes fill with tears at the thought. She shakes her head firmly and grabs her computer, starting up her Mariee Sioux playlist and tugging her headphones on, setting the music low, the vocals just a whisper in her ear. She opens her ragged copy of _Peter Pan_ and curls up against Sebastian’s armchair pillow, taking her first deep breath all day and letting it out slowly.

She slips effortlessly into Neverland.

She doesn’t know how long she stays there, has no idea what time it is, but suddenly and out of nowhere there’s movement from outside, the blankets shuddering and then one of them is pulled back and there’s Scarlett’s face peeking in. 

Lizzie jumps, the book flying from her hands and clattering on her keyboard. She reaches up to drag her headphones off as her heart races in her throat, blinking over and over again in acute distress.

“Jesus, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Scarlett says, looking more than a little alarmed at how insanely Lizzie just reacted. Lizzie curls in on herself, keeping her eyes firmly down as she collects her book again, shaky fingers digging for the right page. 

“I-It’s okay,” Lizzie manages, tucking her finger into the book to hold her place. She reaches up and tucks her hair behind her ear, still not able to meet Scarlett’s eyes. “I thought… I thought it was just me left. Sorry. I can get this cleaned up.”

She starts to stand up but Scarlett shakes her head, waving a hand at Lizzie to make her sit down again.

“No, you’re fine. Promise. This was just… it was just unexpected. It’s fine. Just… keep doing what you were doing. Sorry.”

Scarlett disappears again, the sheet falling back into place, leaving Lizzie in a deceptive silence but it’s broken now. Ruined. Reality seeped in, and now she feels like an idiot for being an eighteen year old in a blanket fort.

She listens to the small sounds of Scarlett moving around the apartment, opening drawers and disappearing into the bathroom and turning on the shower. She grabs her headphones hesitantly, only putting one in her ear so she can listen with the other and maybe not get caught overreacting like a freak next time.

She tries to read again but she finds herself listening to the water run, to Scarlett brushing her teeth and humming to herself as she pads back to her bedroom. She hears the fridge door open and then close before everything falls quiet again. It’s a waiting quiet, a present one, and Lizzie realizes that Scarlett is standing outside the fort.

She clutches her book in her hands, not sure what to do, what to say, how to explain why she’s acting like a pathetic child.

“Knock, knock,” Scarlett says this time, the blanket jumping under what is apparently Scarlett’s knocking fist. 

Lizzie smiles in spite of herself.

“Come in,” she replies, her voice still scratchy from crying. She scoots back into one corner of the fort to make room for Scarlett who crawls inside and settles in on the piles of blankets, her hair damp from the shower and a bottle of water clasped in her hand. She’s wearing a ribbed white tanktop under a soft, muted blue cardigan and a pair of clinging grey pajama pants that Lizzie has to force herself to stop staring at.

It has never escaped her, not for a single second, that Scarlett is absolutely stunning.

Scarlett gives her a smile that looks just as bashful as Lizzie feels, both of her hands clutching the cold bottle.

“Hi,” she murmurs.

“Hi,” Lizzie echos, chewing on her bottom lip and lowering her eyes down to her book.

“I didn’t know you were staying here for Christmas.” There’s the tiny crack of the water bottle being uncapped and the wet sounds of Scarlett drinking. Lizzie watches her hands move, loving that her fingernails are unpainted and short but her hands are lovely; they’re pale and careful and delicate, probably soft with the lotion Lizzie can smell on Scarlett’s skin.

“Yeah, I,” Lizzie starts, shrugging childishly with one shoulder. “This is kind of… my first Christmas alone.”

She can feel the concern and curiosity from Scarlett, and she has to look up and see it for herself. It’s comforting somehow, to talk about it.

“Why is that? Why are you alone?”

Now, this. This is something she’s talked to exactly no one about.

“My mom,” she starts, folding a corner on her book to save her place before she puts it aside and lets her fingers tangle together in her lap. “It was… she died this summer. Bone cancer. And so. A-And so this year, it’s just me. It was always just her and me, and now. N-Now--”

She forces herself to stop talking, her chin trembling hard as more tears slip down her tired cheeks.

“ _Lizzie_ ,” Scarlett whispers. She’s moving closer suddenly, her arms coming up around Lizzie’s shoulders, her damp hair soaking into Lizzie’s sweater but Lizzie can’t hug her back fast enough, can’t get close enough and wrap her arms around Scarlett’s little waist and cling to her.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, her face tucked into Scarlett’s warm neck as she shakes against her. She tries to pull back, to rein it in, but she’s tired. She’s tired and she’s never felt more alone and everything happening right now, every single thing, is a bone-deep comfort that she’s needed for months but never known how to ask for. “I didn’t mean to dump this all on you.”

“I didn’t know,” Scarlett says quietly, her mouth so near Lizzie’s ear. “I’ve… I’ve been an ass. I’ve been a shitty roommate, and I’m sorry.”

Lizzie shakes her head but doesn’t loosen her grip on Scarlett, doesn’t let go.

“You’re not,” she interrupts quickly, not letting Scarlett be so hard on herself, not when she’s helping so much right now. “You haven’t been--”

“I’m working two jobs, trying to stay on top of student loans so they don’t bury me after I graduate. It’s just me and my mom, too, and this isn’t something we can afford, you know? That’s why I’m staying here for Christmas. It’s just so fucking expensive to travel and I’m just… I’m trying to do too much, and I’ve been shutting people out and just trying to deal with it myself.”

Lizzie smiles, sniffling as she tucks in even closer, letting out a heavy sigh against Scarlett’s neck.

“I think I know something about that,” she replies.

“Hey, we’ll have our own Christmas.” Scarlett finally pulls back, giving Lizzie a smile and reaching up to wipe some of the tears from her damp cheeks. “Right? We can make whatever comfort foods we want, watch whatever movies we want. We can spend the week right here. What do you say?”

Lizzie just stares at her, searching Scarlett’s green eyes and wondering if she’s actually asleep, if this is just something she’s wanted so badly that her mind has taken pity on her and given it to her in a very vivid dream.

“I would… I’d love that,” she manages, pulling her sleeves over her hands to wipe her cheeks, giving a sheepish little laugh and flashing Scarlett a smile. “Yeah. That’d be amazing.”

“I’ll even share my bacon cheeseburger pizza with you. It’s still hot.” Scarlett beams at her, leaning forward to press a kiss to the side of Lizzie’s mouth before climbing out of the blanket fort and disappearing with a quiet, socked shuffle into the kitchen. Lizzie reaches up and touches her cheek, her eyes wide as she stares after Scarlett in wonder. 

There is suddenly nothing she wants more than to be in this blanket fort with Scarlett for the rest of winter break.

She’s back with another bottle of water and a massive pizza box with a stack of napkins on top. Lizzie helps her get it all settled in and opens the pizza box, amazed at the sheer size of it.

“Are you sure you want to share with me? There’ll hardly be enough for both of us,” she teases, reaching in for a big, greasy slice and taking a bite of it, only now realizing how hungry she really is.

“Hey, I’d destroy a huge chunk of this pizza on my own,” Scarlett mumbles around her own mouthful of pizza, her eyes sparkling in amusement. “You’d be surprised.”

“My kinda woman,” Lizzie says, not hiding her smile before she crams more pizza into her mouth so she doesn’t have to talk anymore.

“Is that right?” Scarlett smirks at her, their gaze holding while they chew, their knees touching because they’re sitting close again, like it’s already natural to do so. “Wanna pull up Netflix on your laptop and find us a movie to watch?”

“Netflix and chill?” Lizzie raises an eyebrow at her and grins at Scarlett’s snort, at the way her fuzzy socked foot pushes against Lizzie’s knee.

“I always thought you were a shy little mouse. Who knew you’d be such a flirt?” Scarlett wipes her mouth with a napkin and shuffles around to sit next to Lizzie so they can both see the screen.

“I’m still a little mouse,” Lizzie tells her, maybe snuggling in against Scarlett as she pushes play on _Little Women_. “Maybe you’re just fun to flirt with.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining. I’m curled up with a gorgeous girl in a pile of blankets, and it’s just started snowing outside, so we probably won’t get to leave for awhile.” Scarlett wraps an arm around Lizzie’s shoulders and pulls her in to rest her cheek against Scarlett’s breast while her fingers drift through Lizzie’s hair.

“Let it snow,” Lizzie says softly.

 

It’s the middle of the night when Lizzie wakes up. All the lights are off in the apartment, only the silvery pale of the moon filtered through the blankets keeping it from being utterly dark. There’s warmth and softness all along her back and arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her pulled back and snug. Making her feel safe, held close. 

She shifts and nestles deeper back against Scarlett, dragging the blankets up higher over their bodies and snuggling down into their little cocoon before her eyes fall closed again.

“Go back to sleep, mousie,” Scarlett murmurs against her neck, her breath warm and soft on her skin. A kiss follows the words, a single press of plush lips to her nape while Scarlett’s hands spread out on her stomach, rubbing in slow circles and dipping beneath her sweater to drift over Lizzie’s bare stomach.

She shivers under the touch, licking her lips and letting her hands settle over top Scarlett’s. The quiet sinks in around them again, the steady, calm rush of Scarlett’s breath behind her the only sound in Lizzie’s world.

She could get used to this.


End file.
